Projectors, such as picoprojectors, electronic viewfinders of digital cameras, displays of portable devices, such as personal digital assistants (PDAs) and mobile telephones, and the like sometimes employ image display systems (e.g., sometimes called virtual image display systems), such as liquid crystal display systems, e.g., ferroelectric liquid crystal display systems, nematic liquid crystal display systems, etc. Liquid crystal display systems may include a spatial light modulator, such as a reflective spatial light modulator, a light source for illuminating the spatial light modulator, and optics for directing light from the light source into the spatial light modulator and for directing certain portions of the light reflected from the spatial light modulator to a desired viewing area.
A reflective spatial modulator may include liquid crystal material, such as ferroelectric liquid crystal material, nematic liquid crystal material, or the like. The liquid crystal material may be between a common electrode that is transparent to light and an array of reflective pixel electrodes. For example, each reflective pixel electrodes may correspond to a pixel of the display device and thus an image produced by the display device.
The state of the liquid crystal material between a reflective pixel electrode and the common electrode, and thus the state of the corresponding pixel, can be changed by changing an electric field in the liquid crystal material in response to changing a voltage differential between the reflective pixel electrode and the common electrode. That is, the liquid crystal material can transmit the light reflected from the reflective pixel electrode, and thus the corresponding pixel, when in one state (e.g., ON) and can restrict transmission of the light to the reflective conductor, and thus the corresponding pixel, when in another state (e.g., OFF). Selectively, changing the states of the pixels generates images that are directed to the desired viewing area. It will be appreciated that image quality may be impacted by the amount of light that is reflected from each pixel during the ON state, and thus the reflectivity of the respective reflective pixel electrode.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for alternatives to reflective pixel electrodes in existing liquid crystal display systems and their formation.